"IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS"

...next door, anyway. This is what Amy and Mat were working on this afternoon. Me? I've still got my last three pumpkins on the deck, the string of silk autumn leaves and veggie people on the cornice, and my Halloween tablecloth on the table.

Maybe for December, I should try to have a blog post and photo every day like I did in October. ...I didn't succeed in having one EVERY day, but I came fairly close.

ATC DOLLS

These are two different styles of ATC dolls I made for a swap in an online group. The one on the left is a regular ATC with a cut out 'doll' added. The one on the right is jointed with an ATC as her middle, to which the arms, legs and head are connected. I talked about the vintage Japanese schoolboy ATC before, on this blog, when this Harajuku girl was still in the beginning stages. I like how she turned out, but the connecting joints gave me fits.

HORSE SURFING

Zachary and Starlight, taken this afternoon.

ARTISTIC POKER CHIPS

Aren't these totally cool? Thanks, Keith! You are so creative and thoughtful. We love them!

WORKS IN PROGRESS

I've been working on some artist trading cards lately. These are some of them. The only ones finished so far are the one with the circa 1940's Japanese schoolboy picture and the one I'm calling Gee's Bend Wannabe. Mathieu did a small Gee's Bend inspired painting too, beside mine. The colors are not showing clearly. The Japanese schoolboy has metalic gold behind him, not silver as it looks in the photo. The rectangle with the lace and ribbon set beside it is destined to become the middle of a jointed Harajuku style paper doll. The two faces-in-progress are probably going to have a Thanksgiving theme.

WHAT I DID THIS AFTERNOON

There was a dinner at the parish hall tonight after Mass in honor of the musical group who came to play and sing for the vigil Mass. So I finally got around to cooking the three largest pumpkins that Reagan gave us. I made two really large pans of sweet pumpkin and froze about 5 quarts of plain mashed pumpkin.


This is what one pan of sweet pumpkin looked like at the dinner. That's Bruno and Emma's famous rice next to it. Isn't it beautiful! I love rice with lots of fresh peppers, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. It looks like a work of art!

After the meal and the parish council meeting which followed that, I came home and finished getting some more of the pumpkin seeds out of the stringy pulp. Mathieu had started doing that earlier when I was cooking and peeling and mashing pumpkin. We didn't save all the seeds, but we got enough to make a nice roasted pumpkin seed snack tomorrow. The rest went to the chickens and just tossed out in the dirt where I am hoping some volunteer pumpkins will eventually come up.